Gear

For sailors in the northern climes, just because Old Man Winter is here doesn’t mean the fun has to stop. Add these items to your kit and you’ll be better prepared for time on the water, despite the elements.

Helly Hansen’s new Qualicom CIS (Component Insulation System) Jacket is the veritable Swiss Army Knife of winter coats, with its combination of a light insulator jacket made with PrimaLoft Black insulation for maximum warmth and minimum weight that can be zipped into the waterproof exterior shell or worn on its own

Cold Bay Boots from Sperry Top-Sider boots are built from stain and water resistant leather to keep them in your kit for a few seasons, and they’re topped off with Sperry’s seam-seal construction to keep the water out.

If you’re a junior sailor who spends hours out on the water — or if you know one who does — you clearly understand that the clothing you choose to sail in has a huge impact on how your feel, and how you perform, whist sailing. If you meet this description, check out SailFast’s new line of junior (ages 7 – 15) rash-guard shirts. The shirts, which are made out of SPF 50+ material that dries quickly FULL STORY

We live in a disposable world. Our water often comes contained in land-fill plastic, our myriad electronic gizmos and gadgets are trendy for a year or two before they too join the plastic bottles in the landfill, and that’s not even to mention the batteries and power cords that power them. And let’s not even talk about racing sails, broken boat bits, or the massive pile of aluminum cans and glass FULL STORY

Few honors have more prestige in the marine equipment field than the DAME Awards, which are decided at the METS trade show in Amsterdam in mid-November. The entries represent some of the most forward-thinking advances in marine aftermarket equipment. They are also a litmus test for the health of the industry: the more innovative products on show, the more effort is being put into R&D and product FULL STORY

Synthetic rigging has come of age. Colligo Marine is now taking orders for made-to-order twelve-strand Dynex Dux (pre-stretched Dyneema SK-75) shrouds, backstays, and forestays (and other standing rigging), which are compatible with either lashing or turnbuckle-style tensioning systems. Colligo claims that the synthetic rigging is roughly the same cost as stainless-steel wire shrouds but is only FULL STORY

Harken made a big announcement at the 2009 U.S. Sailboat Show at Annapolis: A new line of winches, called the Radials. But unlike other “new” winches that are merely a 2.0 version of an existing product, Harken literally started with a blank sheet of paper and built from the ground up. The resulting winches are lighter, more efficient, safer, easier to install, and easier to upgrade to powered FULL STORY